The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is investigating an allegation by a female Utah State Prison inmate who says she was raped by a corrections officer.
Sheriff's Sgt. Frank Ziebert said his office is looking into claims by the inmate that she was raped a week ago. But until test results come back from the Utah State crime lab, Ziebert said there was very little he could say about the case. Both parties have been interviewed, and right now it's a he said-she said situation, Ziebert said.
The corrections officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted. The officer denies the allegations, saying he is willing to take a polygraph test or give DNA samples, Ziebert said.
Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford would only confirm that an allegation had been made and the officer was on leave.
The alleged rape that occurred last Tuesday is the only one being investigated.
But several female inmates have sent letters to KSL-TV claiming physical and sexual abuse from corrections officers is common.
One inmate wrote, "I swear officers out here sexually harass and assault inmates as if it is a sport," according to KSL.
Allegations of abuse by corrections officers are rare both at the prison and local jails.
In 2000, a former sergeant at the prison was sentenced to 18-months in jail for forcing two male inmates to perform sex acts on him.
In the mid-1990s, 12 women sued the Davis County Jail alleging they were subjected to illegal strip searches. The majority of those cases were settled out of court. In 1990, a former captain at the Utah State Prison was sentenced to zero to five years in prison years after coercing a male inmate to have sex with him.
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